Cybersecurity for critical plants, Leonardo with A2A

Field test new prototypes of solutions developed to meet the specific cybersecurity needs of energy infrastructures. With this objective, the new collaboration between Leonardo, the international player dedicated to the development of multidomain operational capabilities in the Aerospace, Defense and Security sector through the supervision of strategic technologies, and A2A, the Life Company committed to the sustainable growth of the country to improve quality of people’s lives and lead the ecological transition. The experimentation, they explain, will concern in particular the analysis of the IT risk of digital assets and services, the virtualization of application tests and the protection of workstations dedicated to plant control. Leonardo and A2A underline that these are critical processes for the protection of strategic infrastructures, fundamental to seize the opportunities offered by the evolution of the energy system towards digitalization and decentralization – consequences of the energy transition and the development of renewable sources – responding to security challenges that this transformation entails. The two players explain that the use of digital technology amplifies the level of interconnection of the electricity grids, exposes them to greater cyber risk and requires the deployment of advanced technological solutions to safeguard the corporate information assets and guarantee the continuity of services. For the analysis of cyber risk, a new generation system will be tested which allows to manage the entire intelligence cycle, from the definition of the requirements, to the collection of internal and external information sources, structured and unstructured, up to the analysis and to the production of reports and indicators of compromise. It will thus be possible to accurately identify threats, the probability that an attack will be carried out and then implement the most appropriate countermeasures. A prototype of a ‘multi-sandbox’ platform called Argo will allow testing simultaneously and in an orchestrated way, in a virtual operating environment isolated from the network and the corporate information system – which therefore will not be exposed to heterogeneous application and antivirus risks, indicating the most effective combinations to fully and safely exploit all available technologies. Finally, a customized Endpoint Detection and Response (Edr) solution for industrial environments (Ics-Industrial Control Systems) will be tested, for monitoring workstations dedicated to control systems and responding to security incidents. The system allows an active analysis of the behavior and activities that are performed by the applications used by users, preventing violations and allowing to intervene with timely responses. “Leonardo is the technological and industrial partner of reference for the security of critical infrastructures and essential service providers and, to maintain this leadership, constant research and innovation are essential” comments Tommaso Profeta, Managing Director of Leonardo’s Cyber ​​Security Division . “The collaboration with A2A – he adds – will allow us to experiment in the field with some of our most innovative technologies for the cybersecurity of industrial processes and to enrich our offer of proprietary solutions for digitization and security, among the pillars of the Be Tomorrow strategic plan. – Leonardo 2030 for long-term sustainable growth “. Alessandro Manfredini, Group Security Cyber ​​Defense Director of the A2A Group, explains that the company “has always been attentive to security: we believe that, in the digital transition, cyber security must be approached holistically from the early stages of designing technological solutions. “. “This is a fundamental aspect in order to guarantee the effectiveness of the essential services we offer to people, taking care of the quality of their life” he comments “This important initiative carried out with a leading partner in the sector such as Leonardo – Manfredini also points out – will be able to to support our Group in its commitment to contribute to the country’s sustainable growth, as outlined in the new ten-year Business Plan. This is an important agreement that we hope will also bring value to the entire world of utilities “. The new solutions, currently being implemented in Leonardo’s cybersecurity research center, will be tested, on the basis of a specific Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two companies, on A2A’s plants and networks, with a particular focus on focus on energy generation and distribution processes.